Sol"i*tude (?), n. [F., from L.
solitudo, solus alone. See Sole,
a.] 1. state of being alone, or
withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness.
Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a
wild beast or a god.
Bacon.
O Solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Cowper.
2. Remoteness from society; destitution of
company; seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a
wood.
The solitude of his little parish is become
matter of great comfort to him.
Law.
3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or
wilderness.
In these deep solitudes and awful cells
Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells.
Pope.
Syn. Loneliness; soitariness; loneness; retiredness;
recluseness. -- Solitude, Retirement, Seclusion,
Loneliness. Retirement is a withdrawal from general
society, implying that a person has been engaged in its scenes.
Solitude describes the fact that a person is alone;
seclusion, that he is shut out from others, usually by his own
choice; loneliness, that he feels the pain and oppression of
being alone. Hence, retirement is opposed to a gay, active, or
public life; solitude, to society; seclusion, to freedom
of access on the part of others; and loneliness, enjoyment of
that society which the heart demands.
O blest retirement, friend to life's
decline.
Goldsmith.
Such only can enjoy the country who are capable of
thinking when they are there; then they are prepared for
solitude; and in that [the country] solitude is prepared
for them.
Dryden.
It is a place of seclusion from the external
world.
Bp. Horsley.
These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a city] ere
long to the loneliness and the insignificance of a
village.
Eustace.
Sol"i*tude (?), n. [F., from L.
solitudo, solus alone. See Sole,
a.] 1. state of being alone, or
withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness.
Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a
wild beast or a god.
Bacon.
O Solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Cowper.
2. Remoteness from society; destitution of
company; seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a
wood.
The solitude of his little parish is become
matter of great comfort to him.
Law.
3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or
wilderness.
In these deep solitudes and awful cells
Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells.
Pope.
Syn. Loneliness; soitariness; loneness; retiredness;
recluseness. -- Solitude, Retirement, Seclusion,
Loneliness. Retirement is a withdrawal from general
society, implying that a person has been engaged in its scenes.
Solitude describes the fact that a person is alone;
seclusion, that he is shut out from others, usually by his own
choice; loneliness, that he feels the pain and oppression of
being alone. Hence, retirement is opposed to a gay, active, or
public life; solitude, to society; seclusion, to freedom
of access on the part of others; and loneliness, enjoyment of
that society which the heart demands.
O blest retirement, friend to life's
decline.
Goldsmith.
Such only can enjoy the country who are capable of
thinking when they are there; then they are prepared for
solitude; and in that [the country] solitude is prepared
for them.
Dryden.
It is a place of seclusion from the external
world.
Bp. Horsley.
These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a city] ere
long to the loneliness and the insignificance of a
village.
Eustace.
